


Better With You

by DawnsEternalLight



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Bed Sharing, copious amounts of snuggling, honestly the whole fic is just snuggling, just fluff, really I'm just taking every excuse I can to have these two snuggle, really it's just that, soft fic, totally self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 20:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12991737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight
Summary: It was selfish of Dick to take up the time he’d set aside to help Damian with his nightmares but seeking comfort from his own, or was it?





	Better With You

It was selfish of him. Dick knew it. That didn’t stop him from creeping from his room to the guest bed he’d set up for Damian. Neither did it stop him staring at the boy for a long moment. He couldn’t keep himself from watching his breath draw in and out while he held his own. His train wreck heart stilling at every rise of the tiny chest. 

Already he had taken advantage of his brother. Of having him here in Bludhaven. This was for Damian. A trip so he could relax, find solace in the old routines that had been Batman and Robin and were now Nightwing and Robin. Dick and Damian. Brothers. 

It wasn’t a trip set up so Dick could fill up on having his brother around. So he could memorize his brother’s face over and over. So he could erase old nightmares and fears that he was still gone. Still dead. Still hurting. 

It was supposed to be for Damian. 

None of that stopped him from crawling into the bed when looking had not yet scared away the lingering darkness of his nightmare. Of him tugging the small form of his brother tight against his chest. Damian murmuring something for a moment before snuggling his face into Dick’s shoulder.

One difference between the then and now was that once Damian would have woken at Dick’s entrance. Now his brother’s sleep seemed to deepen with Dick’s presence. That, at least, could be a sign of Dick’s not taking advantage of the boy’s time. His sleep was a reason he’d come. Bruce had told him Damian’s nightmares had been worse lately. Beyond that he’d been showing signs of exhaustion and emotional stress, snapping more than usual and dragging his feet on patrol. Bruce had suggested they were the result of a few bad patrols in a row, Dick guessed it was that plus the usual wear of life. 

Damian would never admit a weakness like that. So it was good that Bruce and Dick had learned to pick up on their Robin’s distress. If not he’d collapse in the field or let a cold let get too far. Any of them could slow his actions and result in injury. All of it reminded them what they had to lose. It made them open their eyes and look, little reminders that their Robin pushed himself too far, tried so hard to be perfect, the best, to make them proud. 

Dick called Damian a few hours after he’d talked to Bruce. Rambled on about him he missed him, that he’d just finished a tough case, that he could use a Robin to watch his back a few nights while he recovered. They played the game of getting Bruce’s permission. Setting out days, Dick driving to pick Damian up. Everything to get Damian somewhere different. Get him in a place he felt safe enough to speak his worries late at night as a slow patrol drew to a close. 

The weekend was supposed to be about Damian. Not Dick assuaging his own fears. 

It was selfish of him to stay, and have Damian wake with the knowledge Dick hadn’t slept well (hadn’t been sleeping well in a week). To have Damian deal with Dick’s issues instead of working through his own. Still. Dick couldn’t find it in himself to pull away. 

They slept in. Into inappropriate hours of the morning for anyone to still be asleep. With the sun closer to noon than away from it. Sleeping that late always made Dick groggy and ready to just spend the day in bed rather than get up. But he was the adult, and they did have things planned. He was supposed to be getting Damian’s mind off stuff, and he wasn’t sure sleeping the day away was the way to do that.

“Hey.” he nudged his brother. 

Damian grumbled, nuzzling his face closer to Dick’s shoulder, turning it away from the sun shining in the window. 

“Come on, Damian, you can’t sleep all day.” His voice was quiet, even though he was trying to wake his brother. Like his vocal cords knew he wasn’t really up to trying to wake the kid up. Like maybe they knew a day snuggled in bed wouldn’t kill either of them. 

Still, Dick needed to make an effort. 

“Stop.” Damian’s voice was muffled, “‘m tired.” 

“Dames it’s almost noon.” Dick poked at his shoulder. 

A tired hand pushed his away before finding a place to twist into Dick’s shirt. “Leave me be.” 

Dick chuckled, and stop resisting the urge to run his fingers through Damian’s hair. It was always so soft, he’d just gotten it cut, so the shorter strands slipped through his fingers faster than they had the last time Dick had seen him. That was okay, he liked the way it tickled his palm. 

“Come on kiddo, we were going to hit the arcade today. And try that new indian place.” 

Damian turned a bit so one eye could look up at him, his lid half closed. “It’s too cold. You’re warm, Richard. Don’t make me get up.” 

“Warm?” Dick asked, “I thought you hated it when I coddled you.” 

Damian’s nose scrunched up, “‘S not coddling when I’m tired.” Damian he yawned, “‘s nice.” 

Dick smiled, who knew his baby brother was so honest when he was sleepy. 

“I didn’t know there were rules to coddling.” Dick teased.

The eye looking at him attempted a glare. It lasted a second before softening. “You’re warm.” Damian said again, “and safe, and I’m tired. Please?” 

Dick’s heart lurched at that. Damian hadn’t even bothered asking why Dick was in bed with him. Even tired it had to be a thing on his mind. Unless there was something more important, or pressing. Like Dick being there easing some fear. He wondered if Damian would have ended up in his bed the night before if Dick hadn’t given in to his own nightmare and snuck in to see his brother. Maybe he hadn’t been so selfish after all. Damian wasn’t only good for Dick. The opposite was just as true. Being close to Damian always helped his brother, even when he was having a good day.

He pressed his forehead to Damian’s, “Alright, how about five more minutes.” he promised, knowing it would probably stretch until Damian was ready to wake up. He’d let his brother sleep as long as he wanted if it meant him feeling better. 

Damian smiled and shifted a bit, curling closer so his head was more on Dick’s chest than pressed into his shoulder. 

"You’re lucky you’re so cute.” Dick said.

His brother’s eyes were closed, but he frowned at the comment, “’m not cute, 'm terror 'n the night 'n stuff." 

Dick laughed, he couldn’t help it. It bubbled up out of his chest like some kind of relief and mirth mixed and made Damian blink up at him confused. Dick ruffled his hair, still smiling.

“Get some more sleep terror and the night and stuff.” 

Damian scowled, yawned, and let his head drop back onto Dick’s chest, “‘s not like you don’t need it either.” 

He pressed his lips together, and looked up over Damian at the window. There was a sparrow flitting around it, stopping to rest on the pane. 

“Heard you come in last night.” Damian continued. “Did you have a nightmare?” 

Dick’s finger’s found Damian’s hair again, shifting through it. “Yeah.” 

“‘m sorry.” Damian pressed his face into Dick’s chest. 

Dick could lie to himself all he wanted, but he had been terribly selfish coming in to sleep by Damian. He knew it would bother Damian, knew he’d feel some need to make things right. He didn’t need that, not when he had his own nightmares to fight.

Dick wrapped his free arm around his brother, “It’s okay.”

The sparrow ruffled it’s feathers and took back off, disappearing quickly from view. Dick turned his attention back down to Damian. 

“Glad you came in.” Damian's fingers gripped Dick’s shirt a bit tighter, “It’s good for us.”

“Us?” 

“To be together.” Damian’s voice was all but a whisper against Dick’s chest. “Keeps all the bad dreams away.” 

So it had been a bad night for Damian too. He would have either ended up with Dick, or stayed in his own bed unwilling to ask for help. Though, that option was rarely taken anymore. Damian had only ever grown more comfortable around Dick. And when they were in Bludhaven together he was the most open. There was no one but Dick to judge him, and he knew Dick would never pass judgment of any kind on him, so he let himself do and say things he would normally keep hidden. 

It broke Dick’s heart and gave it hope at the same time. Damian was growing, and changing. Opening up. But it had taken years to get to this point, years he never should have needed to work to be able to feel free to open up around others. No child should ever be raised thinking that emotions were weakness. 

“Did I help?” Damian asked, after a moment.

Dick pressed a kiss onto his head, “You always help.” 

His brother yawned, shifting his head to press his ear close to Dick’s heart, “Good. You always help too."


End file.
